» Monthly Archives: August 2008

The perils of moving wind energy to markets — limitations of old power grids
The New York Times's Matthew Wald has highlighted an energy challenge facing wind power -- not the building of turbines to generate power, but how to transmit from remote wind farms to huge population centers. His article sparked a flurry of blog comments on the argument that the necessary solution is expanding transmission capacity, which ...
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UK eco-town row escalates as villagers fight 10,000 homes on green belt
Villagers have launched a campaign to stop more than 10,000 homes being built on the Bristol green belt in western England, stirring the kind of grass-roots opposition that eco-town proposals (earlier Saint Report) by the Labour Government has generated across the country. More than 100 people packed Dundry's village hall to plan their campaign against the ...
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New Orleans repeating deadly levee blunders, Associated Press reports
Signs are emerging that history is repeating itself in the Big Easy, still healing from Katrina: People have forgotten a lesson from four decades ago and believe once again that the federal government is constructing a levee system they can prosper behind, AP correspondent Cain Burdeau reports from New Orleans. In a yearlong review of ...
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Boston to back building of wind turbines, to rewrite zoning code for wind projects
Boston planners are rewriting the city’s zoning code to allow wind turbines in certain areas, The Boston Herald reports. “We want to give predictability to the private sector, and lay clear ground rules for wind project development, while being sensitive to neighborhood concerns,” said James Hunt, the city’s environment and energy chief, about the proposed changes. Urban ...
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Successes and failures in renewable energy spotlight alternatives to oil
Examples are pouring forth of the success and failures of renewable energy projects around the world, as the spotlight intensifies on alternatives to oil energy sources, such as wind, solar, biomass, wave and tidal power. Here are some recent comments: Gavin Hudson in Eco-Worldly reviews 13 wind and solar successes and failures, including some which could ...
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Tesco in Turkey — risk of operating in emerging markets hits UK retailer
In a week that Tesco vaunted its international credentials with a move into India, the UK's biggest retailer was trying to disentangle itself from a row in Turkey that underlines the challenge and reputational risk of operating in emerging markets, The Financial Times has reported. The development of a large supermarket near Istanbul turned into a ...
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Feeding frenzy for renewable energy alarms conservationists in Mojave Desert
Once considered wasteland, the Mojave Desert's expanse of sunshine and wind is now a prized battleground between unlikely opponents. For generations, conservationists have guarded the landscape, but 21st Century demands for renewable energy are threatening to crash into the pristine desert, now deemed a gold mine for solar, wind and geothermal farms. Renewabe energy is increasingly ...
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Doubling down on wind and natural gas — a closer look at the Pickens Plan
T. Boone Pickens is a proponent of the much-debated peak oil theory. He believes the oil price shocks we have experienced this year are only the beginning. He sees much tighter supplies in the future. At age 80, he is doubling down on wind and natural gas to break America's addiction to oil. As Seeking ...
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Developers delay retail projects until 2010 — waiting until demand returns
One of the most prevalent trends CoStar reports from the retail real estate investment trusts’ second quarter conference calls was their decision to put off planned new retail development until 2010 or later. In this story, CoStar makes note of this trend, citing specific examples of large retail projects that have been recently delayed ...
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Slowing foreclosures may mask woes as new state laws help homeowners
When the research firm RealtyTrac Inc. releases its latest foreclosure report Thursday, don't be surprised if the number of filings declines again, Michael Corkery writes in a Wall Street Journal report, which has been reprinted by the blog The Future of Real Estate. The data may reflect several developments aimed at reducing foreclosures, including ...
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